News

October 4, 2013

Federal workers, public pay the price of Tea Party extremism

This week a minority of extremists within the House Republican caucus led by Rep. Mark Meadows, a freshman congressman from Western North Carolina, followed their obsession with taking away affordable health care for millions of poor and middle class Americans to the brink of ruin for their party and us all by refusing to fund the federal government unless they get their way.

Instead of bucking this Tea Party tyranny and allowing the majority in the U.S. House to rule – by which Democrats and enough Republicans would be allowed to vote on a Senate-passed resolution to continue funding the government – House Speaker John Boehner blinked, opting to allow the government to shut down for lack of funding instead.

What do these hostage takers demand? They want what they could not win through the normal democratic process.

House Republicans want the President to agree to strip funding for the Affordable Care Act (aka, “Obamacare”). Keep in mind that the law passed both houses of Congress, was signed by the President, and was upheld by the Supreme Court. It has been the law now three years, was the main point of contention in the last presidential election, and the centerpiece of which went into effect on October 1st – despite the shutdown.

Now over 800,000 federal workers – 85% of whom live outside the Washington, DC metro-area – including thousands of workers in North Carolina are locked out of their jobs, unable to serve the public or bring home a paycheck to their families.

Many Federal Employees have been Locked Out of their jobs because Congress did not fund the U.S. Government. Many more are working but are unsure when or if they will get paid.

Federal Employees want to work and believe in providing critical and quality services to the American public. Please stand shoulder to shoulder with your American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union Brothers and Sisters!

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The North Carolina State AFL-CIO is the largest association of local unions and union councils in North Carolina, representing over one-hundred and forty-thousand union members, fighting for good jobs, safe workplaces, workers’ rights, consumer protections, and quality public services on behalf of ALL working people.